The Emerald Eyed Bandit
by AnimeAdventurez
Summary: Maka's seemingly normal world- if a life of pillaging and thieving can be considered normal- is rocked when she encounters a certain peculiar guard. A certain peculiar white haired, crimson eyed guard. Robin Hood AU! Fluffy SoMa, rated T because I don't trust my mind enough to rate it K.
1. Chapter 1

_Hey there, everyone! its been a long time since I've posted anything on here. Sorry about that. ^^; I'll try to get better about that. So yeah, here's something I've been wanting for a while. A Robin Hood AU! I looked and looked, but I couldn't find one...so I figured I'd write one! Forgive me if its terrible. Written from Maka's point of view. Enjoy, if at all possible. _

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The gentle sounds of the chirping birds echoed lightly through the forest, disturbed only by the soft clicking sounds of carriage wheels meeting the poorly paved road. Two horses pulled the hefty carriage along, mindful of the heavy luggage they were pulling. The jingling riches that were surely inside were a bit more guarded than I had expected. I reached out my pale hand to push aside the vibrant foliage, allowing myself a better look at the approaching carriage from my unseen perch high within the blooming tree. The carriage itself would draw up no conflict, as picking its iron lock to reach the treasure within would be an easy task, but the guards matching its pace would certainly require quite a plot. I narrowed my emerald eyes and counted how many of them followed alongside my horse-drawn target. Six. There were six guards. I let out a frustrated sigh. Distracting six men would be much harder than distracting the two I had planned for. Nevertheless, I could not fail my comrades who were counting on me to complete this task.

Taking a large breath, I reached an arm over my shoulder to pull an arrow from the quiver slung over my back. With practiced speed, I docked the hand-crafted arrow on my bow and drew back the string. I held my breath, knowing I would need to be perfectly still for my target to be reached. Moments blended into seeming hours as the carriage slowly pulled around the curve in the ragged road, bringing it right into the perfect range of my deadly shot. A small smirk spread across my face as I released the arrow. It hit its mark with a strong thud- a tree directly next to the horses pulling the carriage along. Within moments the horses reacted, rearing up in fear of the sudden noise of my arrow slicing through the air. They whinnied and stomped their feet, rocking the carriage and drawing the attention of the guards. Just as planned, the guards ran to try to calm the fearful beasts, leaving me a clear path to the un-guarded riches locked within the carriage. My smirk split into an open grin when I leaped out of the tree. I had them right where I wanted them! I raced past the commotion with the horses, being sure to keep my steps light, not wanting to divert the attention of the guards away from the rearing mares. As I slung my bow over my shoulder, I heard the sound of ripping ropes- that meant one of the horses was getting free. Perfect.

I reached the back opening of the carriage in no time, and quickly grabbed ahold of the iron lock separating me from my prize. I ripped a pin from my tan hair, allowing it to fall to my shoulders. Blowing a sheet of the newly freed hair out of my face, I jammed the pin into the lock and began working its internal mechanisms to my advantage. My heart leaped when I finally heard the click that signaled the lock's release. I yanked the useless tool of the hook and threw it aside before swinging open the carriages wooden door. Inside, just as I knew it would be, a large sack, filled to the brim with gold coins, lay in the center of the wood floor. I felt the grin return to my face as I grabbed ahold of the bag. The feeling didn't last long, though. The soaring of my heart was immediately smothered when I felt a grip on my shoulder. My stomach dropped. I had been caught! "N-no!" I yelled, whirling around to face my attacker, hoping to break his grip in the process. Sadly, all I managed was allowing him to take hold of my free hand as well.

To my dreaded surprise, I had been grabbed by a guard. I looked nervously at the sword strapped to his belt, hoping he wouldn't happen upon the urge to draw it anytime soon. It would be difficult to deal with an armed man, especially one who knows how to wield it. A jab of pain from my wrist drew my attention back to his face. His floppy white locks swished as the guard shook his head, a smile of his own on his face. "Trying to steal, are you, missy?" I gave no response to his inquires, but desperately tried to pull my hand away. His grip tightened again, causing a small wince to escape my lips. "A pretty little thing like you shouldn't have to do that, you know." He looked me right in the eye, his deep crimson ones penetrating my own. Embarrassed, I could feel a hot red blush spreading over my cheeks.

"Unhand me at o-once!" I yelled, still struggling to free myself.

My struggle seemed to amuse the white haired guard. "I don't think so, Missy." He laughed, turning my embarrassment into anger. This daft man was just toying with me! Surely he realized I would tolerate none of this. "You're in a spot of trouble, if I do say so mysel-" I cut his sentence short by kicking him hard between the legs. I must say, the resulting effects were quite amusing. The guard collapsed to the ground immediately, writhing in pain. A smirk once again claimed my expression as I took ahold of the bag of coins.

"Idiotic male," I muttered as I stepped over him, heaving the heavy bag over my shoulder. As I did so, the ropes tying the horses to their now empty cart snapped, freeing the horses to run about as they pleased. The guards were still trying to keep the situation under control, but they were failing miserably. Thankfully only that one useless oaf had noticed me. I stuck two fingers into my mouth, breathing out a loud whistle. The guards turned to me, looking stunned, as one of the stray horses ran my way. I smiled and offered them a wink as I leapt onto the back of the cantering horse, taking control of the rains. "So long, boys! I appreciate it, really, I do!" I yelled, rearing the horse. Snapping out of their shock, they reached for the swords at their belts. Oh, how late they were! For I was already gone. "Yah!" I hollered, sending the horse into a full speed gallop. The mission was over! And quite a success it was. I adjusted the bag of money so that it slung over the saddle, instead of weighing down on my shoulder. The others would surely be pleased when they saw this!

Still, I felt a small spot within me that wasn't quite satisfied with the way the mission had gone. Something was not sitting well in my heart. I looked over my shoulder, back to the white haired guard who was still struggling to get himself off the ground. I usually had no remorse for those sort of things... But I can't deny I felt a bit bad for the fellow. _It's a shame we met under those circumstances, really,_ I thought, turning back to the cobbled road ahead. _He was rather cute..._

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_So yeah. ^^ This is the child of my randomness after watching that old Disney Robin Hood movie. So... If you managed to enjoy this, please leave a review. That would really make my day- no, my life. (ouo)_


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in forever. I'm trying to get better with that, though! Please stay with me here! Thank you all so much for the feedback, it brightens my day!_

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Chapter Two

As the landscape became more and more familiar, I slowed the horse down to a leisurely walk. I wouldn't want to arrive in the camp on horseback, my comrades wouldn't think twice before striking me down. Arrows first, questions later. And I didn't fancy myself an arrow to the knee.

With a final tug on the reins, I stopped the horse and hoped off the saddle. I quickly adjusted the sack of loot on my shoulders before tying the horse's reins to a nearby tree. Ordinarily, I would just send the beast off and be done with it, but there were some people waiting for this gold, and those people happened to be quite far away. At least, far away enough for me to prefer a mount for the journey.

Once I was satisfied with my knot-handiwork, I began walking to the clearing I knew lay just past these few trees. I stepped into the dirt of the clearing and raised my hands over my head. "Liz? Patty?" I called to my comrades who I knew would be perched in the branches of the surrounding trees. "It's me, don't shoot."

A smile spread to my face as I heard the shuffle of leaves behind me, followed by the dull thump of heavy leather boots on the clearing floor. "Maka! So everything went well?"

I turned to face Liz behind me, holding out the sack of gold. "Of course," I said. She grinned and took the bag from me as her sister dropped from the tree behind her, slinging her bow over her shoulder.

"Yay!" Patty said happily, skipping over to stand beside me and Liz. "How much is it? How much, how much?" Patty jumped up and down eagerly.

Liz rolled her eyes. "We're not sure yet, Patty." She sat down on the floor and started opening up the bag. "Want to help me count?"

Patty nodded eagerly, sitting beside her sister. I chuckled and turned away from them, running my eyes over our camp. Our three tents sat in a circle, all facing the blackened remains of our fire from the night before. Everything seemed orderly enough.

Yawning, I walked over to our crate of food supplies and pulled out the canteen of water, tugging the lid off with my teeth and savoring the cool refreshment inside. I closed the crate and sat on top of it, drinking water and watching as Liz and Patty counted the stash coin by coin.

Today was a great success, I could afford a quick nap, right? Deciding I deserved one anyway, I closed my eyes and leaned forward, resting my chin in my hands and drifting off into a light sleep.

I awoke later to a very happy Patty face in front of my own startled one. "Hey, wake up Maka!" She said, shoving the sack of gold into my lap. "We counted it all! You can take it into town now!" She put her hands on her hips proudly.

I shook my head, laughing slightly and containing the urge to scold her for waking me. "Okay, okay." I grabbed the bag and stood up, stretching out my arms before slinging the bag over my shoulder. I ran one hand through my auburn hair before pulling the hood of my cloak over my head. Wearing it would at least let me conceal some of my face. I waved a quick goodbye to the sisters before wading back out into the woods after my newly acquired horse.

A few minutes later, I was happily on my way to the nearby town. We'd been stationed on this city's outskirts for a week or so, stealing money from that ass of a king and bringing it to the people who really needed it. Liz, Patty and I have been this way for years, traveling from town to town and helping out the only way we know how. I clenched the reigns a bit tighter as I guided the horse into town. Looking around, I could see many more patrols of guards than there were before. I grit my teeth and pulled the hood a little further down. Only that one idiot had seen my face, but I didn't want to take any chances.

I trotted the horse past the clusters of houses and the church, approaching a large building; the town's orphanage. I'd been bringing our, er, borrowed gold here, because I knew our trusted friend inside would get it to the right hands. I quickly dismounted and tied the horse, holding the gold in one hand and knocking on the door with the other.

A young boy opened the door, his eyes wide. Without even asking my name, he turned right around and yelled back inside the house. "Ms. Marie!" He screamed with one hand cupping his mouth. "There's a boy at the door!"

I cringed, resisting the instinct to teach the brat a lesson. It was the hood that was throwing him off, definitely. He couldn't see my face. Definitely the hood. I managed to keep a smile, though I'm sure the anger was obvious on my face.

If it was, the boy was completely oblivious. He flashed me a toothy grin then spoke again. "Ms. Marie will come see you real soon, okay?" And with a small wave, he ran back into the depths of the house, probably back to his childish little games.

I stood awkwardly in the doorway. I hadn't exactly been invited in, so I just waited for Marie to finish whatever she was doing and pushed the thoughts of the gender-confused little boy to the back of my head.

After a few moments of reassuring myself it was the hood that led to the confusion, most certainly not a different aspect of my body, I caught sight of Marie's bright blonde hair making its bouncing way over to me through the waves of children. When she reached the doorway, she offered me a smile. "Maka," she said, a relieved look on her face. "It's great to see you, dear."

I returned the smile and nodded, and Marie gestured for me to enter. She stepped into the crowed home and I followed, and we maneuvered our way though the kids to the kitchen, which was surprisingly bare of the sound of pitter-pattering feet.

My friend sat down at the table and motioned for me to do the same. I placed the heavy bag on the table, and sat with a sigh on the seat across from Marie.

Her eyes widened at the sight of the sack. "M-My, it sure is quite a lot this time," she said.

A proud grin cracked my face and I folded my arms, leaning back in the chair. "Things went a bit better than expected." I snickered. "There was a royal bank carriage about. They chose the wrong forest path." My grin remained as I remembered Liz and Patty's part of the plan- they had blockaded the real road, and re-directed that band of fools down our decoy road, where I was waiting.

Marie laughed slightly. I knew she wasn't a fan of the way the money was acquired, but in this time of need, who was she to complain? "Well, it seems good luck may finally be coming our way." She said, as I pushed the loot towards her. She took it and simply looked at it, seemingly deep in thought. "And it is about time, as well."

I nodded. The gang and I had seen how rough things were these days. It was almost hard to believe, at times. People sink pretty low when they can't even get food for themselves and their mates. The gold we got, though little in amount, would go a long way. Less tummies of the young ones would go empty. I smiled, then stood up. "Marie, I trust you know what to do from here." I paused and waited for a nod from my friend before continuing. "And there's been a lot more guards about. Not that I'm worried about those imbecilic blokes, though." I added with a scowl. "Though one of them did see my face. I think it'll be best if I leave now, 'fore they get suspicious of you."

Marie stood and took my hand, her eyes looking into mine with severe gratitude. "Yes. But thank you, Maka. I know I say this quite a bit, but really- thank you."

I smiled and rubbed the back of my neck. "I-it's not a problem, Ms. Marie." I cupped my hands over hers and gave them a squeeze before releasing the grip with a step to the door. "Just make sure it all gets to the right folks, alright?"

And then, as if on que, there was another loud knock from the door. I froze and both our eyes shot to the window. The curtains were drawn, of course, but the silhouettes were enough to tell that these visitors meant trouble. Trouble mostly in the form of kicking my bum into a cold jail cell.

"Guards," Marie breathed, her eyes wide with fear. I streamed a flow of whispered curses. "Hide!" She said, pushing me away as she jogged to answer the door after stuffing the gold into a cupboard.

I growled and inhaled sharply. It didn't seem like it was good luck heading our way, not at all.


End file.
